I've been gaming my entire 37 years on this planet, and I don't think I'll ever stop -- so when I saw market research firm Newzoo predict gaming will be even bigger by 2023, it piqued my interest.
Newzoo has published their forecast towards 2023 for gaming, expecting to see over 3 billion people playing games within the next 4 years. This is a huge 39% of the entire population of our Pale Blue Dot, but it's not much more than the already huge 2.69 billion gamers mostly thanks to mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.
How about the gaming market? Right now in 2020 it is expected to generate around $159 billion, but by 2023 that is expected to blow past $200 billion. Where will the growth be coming from? Mobile games and gigantic franchises like Fortnite, Pokemon GO, League of Legends, Call of Duty, PUBG, and more.
These games have exploded in popularity and use during the COVID-19 lockdowns and social distancing restrictions, and that will only continue to grow as time goes on (gaming, not the lockdowns).
Newzoo says by the end of this year we'll have:
- 2.7 billion gamers worldwide
- 2.5 billion gamers on mobile
- 1.3 billion gamers on PC
- 800 million gamers on console
